Organ transplantation is a surgical procedure which has evolved in recent times. Although the first successful organ transplantation took place in 1823 in Germany, it was only in the early 1900s that organ transplantations came of age. Today organ transplantation is a common procedure and several tissues and organs of the body can be transplanted in the event of an organ being damaged or lost.

The most common organ transplantation is the kidney. One of the reasons for this is that an individual has two kidneys but can lead a perfectly normal life with just one, so it is also possible for a living person to donate a single kidney. This increases the number of possible donors for kidney transplantation. After kidneys, the next most common organ transplantation is the liver. Today, due to advancement in technology, liver transplantation has become a very common procedure. In the United States, six types of organs are transplanted today – kidney, liver, pancreas, heart, lung and intestine.